Buster Keaton leaves the
Fatty Arbuckle team, after The Garage (1920), to work
for the indie studio of United Artists. Though this
film was completed in 1920, it was released a year
later. One Week (1920) was made later, but was
released first because Buster had more confidence in
it. One of the gags that got big laughs was of Buster
reading a newspaper that he unfolds until it's as big
as a blanket. The funny bit was used by Buster in
other films.Buster
collaborates withEddie Cline, who also worked for Fatty in the
capacity of actor and gag writer.

The story has Buster
getting off a train and answering a newspaper ad by
Tiny Tim (Ingram
B. Pickett) to work in an amusement park shooting
gallery. Tiny Tim is the leader of the secret-like
Mafia organization called The Blinking Buzzards and
they have taken a contract to kill the town's miser
businessman unless he pays the gang the blackmail
of $10,000. Instead the miser instals a secret
escape door in every room of his house and when he and his daughter
are impressed by the shooting skills of Buster while
visiting the gallery, he hires Buster as his
bodyguard. A conflict of interest develops when Tiny
Tim makes Buster a member of his secret organization
and orders Buster to kill his client.

It's a trip watching Buster
try to protect his client from all The Blinking Buzzards trying to
kill him, while running around the house and passing
through all its secret doors.